Should we change at least one of our current moderators?

Question

Background

This question could have been another 'Why was my answer deleted?', as recently one of my answers got deleted, which was answering the question properly with scriptures. Neither did the moderator give time nor will it help even if I press this issue further. So this post is not about 'Why was my answer deleted?' but the bigger issue I discuss below.

The Main Issue

Historically, the moderators here have hardly responded or shown any interest to address such issues. E.g. In past, I had brought my another deleted answer to Mod's chat room. Which neither did receive proper justification nor the attention it required. You can see the detailed account in this meta post.
Even if they undelete my answer, that's not going to solve the long term problem. Because unless they understand objectivity of when to delete an answer & when not to, people will keep complaining here.

Not that SE has never thought about new moderators in Hinduism. In mid-November I got an email asking if I'm interested in becoming a Mod. See here for more details.

Question

Regardless of any other user becoming moderator, do you feel that we need a change in leadership or direction, on how things are done on Hinduism.SE?

If you can't answer the above question or comment on it, then kindly upvote this post if you agree or downvote if you disagree.

Here you may find some of the earlier unresolved complaints. Similar question was asked before as well: Change the moderators of Hinduism SE Site.

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Why do I feel there's "unfair practices" of moderation in Hinduism.SE?

==> Example: My above mentioned answer or this answer are not falling under the "delete criteria" of not an answer -- mentioned either in this local meta post or this main meta post.
Instead of deleting unsourced answer as mentioned in this query, they target regular users who put proper answers. Proper justifications are not given.

Why do I use word "they"?

==> The other mods might be good on their own. But when unfair deletion or decision happens from particular mod, they support it by remaining passive & not reversing the decision. This can be considered as indirect support.

Answer 1

Upvoted the question.

Yes, we need to change the moderators. I have made my objections to the current state of moderation clear many times over. We need more maturity, more objectivity, standard set of moderation rules that are uniformly applied, less bias and less random actions based on personal agendas. We also need the moderators not to act in an "us vs them" fashion when it comes to responding to contentions from users.

Answer 2

1. Talking about deletion of answer:

   The nature of your answer is quite different to that of question. Questioner is looking for whether one should buy or rent a house according to Scripture which can be answered by Dharma Shahstra scriptures that guide the way of living.

   Whereas you're answer is about explaining how the question doesn't matter to one who focus on considering towards liberation with quoting what Jnana (Knowledge) and Ajnana (Ignorance) is. And concluded that anything of buying or renting is same for who thinks according to your expected spiritual level!

   So, you've handled question in different way with respect to what has may asked in question. Though you thinking may be right but this is not how answering does work.

   The following line sounds irrelevant or opinion only:

   Having own house & car might be part of American Dream. But predominantly in other developed nations such as Germany & Netherlands, people rent homes & rent cars, respectively.

   Which I think need to avoid or eliminate.

   If you think the question is opinion-based or off-topic, the correct procedure is to vote to close it. – Keshav Srinivasan♦ 3 hours ago

2. Talking about changing moderators

   Well, this clearly sounds about Keshav Srinivasan. I've pointed out such issue to him in my answer. He sounds correct in your case and I don't think he is mostly wrong. I don't believe moderator targets some people etc. Moderators may (or expected) rarely be wrong which is not the issue.

   You may find Voting to have Keshav Srinivasan take a sabbatical as a moderator already present similar to your this question. Which is answered by him.

   Though, in any case, if you feel something is going wrong with you, following posts can be helpful for you:

   • What recourse do I have if I believe a moderator has abused his/her privileges?
   • Could we please be a bit nicer to moderators?
     
     

   And/Btw, you can directly contact SE instead of complaining on meta.

Answer 3

Question: Regardless of any other user becoming moderator, do you feel that we need a change in leadership or direction, on how things are done on Hinduism.SE?

Yes, I think we need a change; bring in new moderators. Particularly because we currently only have one moderator who's very active. Or maybe it's just me who thinks so because I don't see the other two moderators as active as the main one. I'm not even sure if there's a way to objectively determine who's active and who's not, e.g., how to know which mod. has worked on most flags?

I don't have a problem with only one moderator being very active, as after all, moderation on SE sites is a totally voluntary commitment. However, when there's a dispute, if the other moderators are also active and have a chat with the complaining user to understand the problem from the user's perspective, without prejudice and without blindly supporting the concerned mod's actions, that would be very helpful.

But when unfair deletion or decision happens from another mod, they support it by remaining passive & not reversing the decision.

Even if you bring in a new moderator, I am not sure if the new moderator will so easily reverse the decision of another moderator if there is a disagreement between them e.g., undeleting an answer that was wrongly deleted. Imagine two 1K+ users getting into an edit-war over an answer rolling back the answer to a previous version. We definitely don't want moderators doing that. Also, just having a good rapport with another moderator shouldn't mean they start supporting each other's wrong decisions.

However, when there is a disagreement between 2 moderators, IMO, adopting a 'majority wins' policy by all the mods is a good way to resolve the dispute at hand. Also, for any mod, there is no shame in reversing a bad decision, instead of sticking to one's guns which is what I keep seeing here on Hinduism.SE. We often see a big invisible "DO NOT QUESTION OUR ACTIONS" banner being waved by the current moderators here and this is definitely not good for the site.

Also, I suggest current and future moderators to read this meta.SE post where a moderator gracefully accepts his mistake:

Account suspension for answering questions well?

You might also want to look at question no. 11 from 2016 SO election questionnaire and go over some of the answers:

11. How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

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Under the question someone commented:

Also, we should stop shaming moderators in public just as I commented on a thread previously where I told that we should stop shaming other people by mentioning their names.

IMO, moderators here and everywhere need to get over this narrow-minded and shoot-the-messenger thinking and instead try to solve the real problem at hand by not getting too emotional about the fact that their actions are being called into question. If you find yourself getting easily upset because someone questioned your actions openly on meta, then, IMHO, you're not fit to be a moderator! If you find yourself regularly downvoting meta posts that question mods' actions, then, moderation is not for you! Such moderators should simply relinquish their posts! Give up the moderation job to others who are more tolerant to criticism. Accept that moderation is not for everyone and just move on!

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Another reason why we need a new moderator is the way this meta post is handled by the current moderators:

Upvoted and accepted answer deleted by moderator

I see that none of the current mods actually answered OP's question which received 5 upvotes so far. Instead we find two high-rep users trying to address OP's question when it really should have been the moderators doing it by way of a proper answer. And let's not try to 'answer' questions in 'comments' or 'chat'. Why shouldn't the mod write a proper answer first, then invite comments on it from OP and other users?

Another meta post which hasn't received a single answer from the mods:

Moderators should give time & scope of discussion before deleting a post for active users